The Australian Sailing Museum was a privately operated museum in Mandurah, Western Australia, which opened in 2008 and closed in 2012.
Owned and built by Rolly Tasker, the Australian Sailing Museum [1] exhibited a comprehensive display of yacht models, the history of Australian sailing, and sailors, from the 19th century. It hosted maritime artworks, lifelike wax figures of sailing icons (a saluting Dennis Conner, John Cox Stevens, Sir Thomas Lipton & more), while the main exhibition area was circled with pennants from clubs around the world. The Museum also housed the Peninsula Art Gallery which sold prints, the Boardwalk coffee shop and Rolly Tasker Sails Australia which offered sails made by Rolly.
The opening address on Monday 7 April 2008 was made by Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, who opened the museum on Rolly and Kerry Tasker's behalf. [2] [3]
The Museum housed an extensive array of built-to-scale model yachts in glass cases. The models were representative of most of the Australian and many international classes of yachts. The Australian sailing and Olympic sailing champions' achievements were listed. Wax figures circled the centre of the Museum while sailing history in text and pictures lined the walls.
It was listed as a 2009 WA Tourism Awards Finalist. [4]
Following the death of Rolly Tasker at the age of 86 in 2012, and after failing to find an organisation to take over the collection, his family transferred many of the contents to the WA Museum and Fremantle Maritime Museum, while others were sold at auction. [5]
Australia II is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successful Cup challenger, ending a 132-year tenure by the New York Yacht Club.
Major General Philip Michael Jeffery, was a senior Australian Army officer and vice-regal representative. He was the 28th governor of Western Australia from 1993 to 2000, and the 24th governor-general of Australia, serving from 2003 to 2008.
Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its name is taken from Sir Walter Murdoch (1874–1970), the Founding Professor of English and former Chancellor of the University of Western Australia.
The Swan Bells are a set of 18 bells hanging in a specially built 82.5 metre copper and glass campanile in Perth, Western Australia. The tower is commonly known as The Bell Tower or the Swan Bell Tower.
Jon Sanders is an Australian yachtsman.
Model yachting is the pastime of building and racing model yachts. It has always been customary for ship-builders to make a miniature model of the vessel under construction, which is in every respect a copy of the original on a small scale, whether steamship or sailing ship. There are fine collections to be seen at both general interest museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and at many specialized maritime museums worldwide. Many of these models are of exquisite workmanship, every rope, pulley or portion of the engine being faithfully reproduced. In the case of sailing yachts, these models were often pitted against each other on small bodies of water, and hence arose the modern pastime. It was soon seen that elaborate fittings and complicated rigging were a detriment to rapid handling, and that, on account of the comparatively stronger winds in which models were sailed, they needed a greater draught. For these reasons modern model yachts, which usually have fin keels, are of about 15% or 20% deeper draught than full-sized vessels, while rigging and fittings have been reduced to absolute simplicity. This applies to models built for racing and not to elaborate copies of steamers and ships, made only for show or for " toy cruising."
Scouting in Western Australia is predominantly represented by a branch of Scouts Australia and Girl Guides Western Australia, a member organisation of Girl Guides Australia.
The Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is a yacht club in Perth, Western Australia. It is the third oldest yacht club in Australia after the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. It is based at the Crawley Marina on Pelican Point and at the Fremantle Annexe in Challenger Harbour.
The Queensland Maritime Museum is located on the southern bank of the Brisbane River just south of the South Bank Parklands and Queensland Cultural Centre precinct of Brisbane, and close to the Goodwill Bridge.
The 1983 America's Cup was a 12-metre class yacht racing series which pitted the defending New York Yacht Club's Liberty against the Royal Perth Yacht Club's challenger, Australia II. The September 1983 series of match races was won by Australia II, with four race wins to three, in the first successful challenge of the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defense of the Cup. The Australian syndicate's boat, skippered by John Bertrand, fought back from a 3–1 deficit to best the Dennis Conner-helmed defender, ending both the longest winning streak in sporting history and U.S. domination of the racing series.
Rolland Leslie "Rolly" Tasker AM was an Australian sailor who won Australia's first Olympic sailing medal, at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. He and Malcolm (Huck) Scott won a silver medal in their 12m2 Sharpie after the New Zealander Peter Mander failed to disqualify himself and Rolly had not officially protested. In 1958 Tasker won the Flying Dutchman World Championship.
The 1987 America's Cup was the twenty-sixth challenge for the America's Cup.
The Boomerang 20 is a sailboat that was designed by Eric Maizey in the late 1960s to race and cruise on Port Phillip in Melbourne Australia, sheltered water but choppy conditions. The original boats were built at the family home in Frankston with the assistance of the kids and neighbours in cold moulded ply. As interest grew and production increased, the majority were fibreglass construction. The hulls were built by contractors such as Bruce Orchard and fitted out at the Maizey home until the growing business took up residence in a factory in Kookaburra St. Frankston. Boomerangs began appearing at major regattas in increasing numbers, and their reputation for excellent sailing qualities and bulletproof design grew with their successful racing results. The class soon gained JOG qualification and so could race in the relevant offshore events. After Eric Maizey's untimely death, the business was sold and the Boomerang was built in Victoria, Australia, by Maison Marine in the 1970s and later by Peninsula Yachts. The class association continued to grow. Many hundreds have been built over a 25-year period, and there are quite a few still around the waterways. The Boomerang 20 has always been a classic. It is one of the all-time best-sellers of the 20-foot trailer sailers,
Malcolm John Hazell, is a retired Australian public servant. He was the Official Secretary to two Governors-General of Australia, Peter Hollingworth (2003) and Major General Michael Jeffery (2003–2008).
Australian Sailing is recognised by World Sailing as the governing body for the sport of sailing in Australia.
The Fremantle to Bali yacht race is an ocean yachting race hosted by Fremantle Sailing Club between Fremantle and Benoa harbour, Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia. The distance of the race is over 1,440 nautical miles and can take 7 days or longer to traverse.
The Skate is a high performance two-person racing dinghy unique to Australia. Designed as a monohull sailboat it's fourteen feet long (4.27m) with a 7.2m mast, 1.8m bow pole and masthead asymmetrical spinnaker. It is an Australian national class.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
Heemskerck was the flagship of Abel Janszoon Tasman's exploratory voyage of 1642. She and her consort Zeehaen were the first European ships to explore the south coast of Australia, including Tasmania, cross the Tasman Sea, and reach New Zealand among other achievements.